JUUstice Washington

A Unitarian Universalist State Action Network

Side With Love Organizing School for Teams – July 30th Application Deadline

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It Starts With Faith: Organizing School for Teams? There’s still time. Complete the brief application by July 30th!

Organizing School will support  20-30 teams with the goal of aligning all of our faith organizing to build power and impact in 2022. The teams will have access to organizing coaches and be invited to participate in national leadership roles in our upcoming Side With Love Action Center. If you are looking for ways to advance racial justice through your congregation or social justice teams, this year’s Organizing School is for you! 

Good Trouble: John Lewis Democracy Vigils, Saturday, July 17th, 2021 (Various Locations/Times)

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Good Trouble: Candlelight Vigil for Democracy organized by John Lewis MobilizationJoin us for The Good Trouble Vigils for Democracy on July 17 – the one year mark of the passing of Rep. John Lewis – as we carry on his legacy by hosting candlelight vigils nationwide to demand that Congress act to protect our freedom to vote and rebuild our democracy.

Six months have passed since the failed attack on our nation and our democracy on January 6th. Since that day, anti-voter laws have been passed in states all over the country and the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent rulings have made clear that it will not act to protect the sacred right to vote. This summer, Congressional districts risk being redrawn in a way that will allow politicians to choose their voters – rather than the voters fairly choosing who represents them.

We have reached an inflection point in which we must force our elected officials to act now or risk losing the very foundation of our republic.

But there is hope for us to stop this undercurrent of corruption and rebuild American democracy so that the freedom to vote is protected, billionaires don’t control our political systems, and our representatives actually respond to we the people.

To do this, we must pass the For the People Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and D.C. Statehood – and we can’t let anything, including the Jim Crow filibuster, stand in our way!

We must and will win this Fight!

Vigils in Washington State:

9:30pm PDT
Bellingham, WA
See details

7pm PDT
Shoreline, WA
See details

7:30pm PDT
Seattle, WA
See details

5pm PDT
Virtual event · Join from anywhere
Hosted in Olympia, WA
See details

7:30pm PDT
Montesano, WA
See details

Deadline for Democracy: June 28 – July 10, Pressure Congress for Voting Equity

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Yesterday, we launched our big plan for the upcoming congressional recess from June 28 – July 10: Deadline for Democracy. And now we’ve got just a few weeks to plan hundreds of events, drive thousands of signups, and get everything ready to put pressure on all 100 senators for real democracy reform.

A red and blue graphic. On the right is a woman wearing a medical mask and speaking into a megaphone. On the left it says “Deadline for Democracy June 28 – July 10 We must mobilize like never before to show our Senators that there is overwhelming grassroots support for voting rights!”

If you missed yesterday’s email with all the details, read on below for the rundown of what we’re planning for this crucial recess. If you’re ready to support us right now, click here to donate $10 to help us support events nationwide, build toolkits, create graphics, run ads, and more to make this recess a success and accomplish all our goals.

Why Deadline for Democracy?

To put it simply, we’re running out of time to implement all the most important democracy reform policies we’re fighting for. To make sure that measures like voting rights protections, fair redistricting, election security, and more are in place in time for the 2022 election cycle, laws like the For the People Act need to be on the books by August.

With a fleeting Democratic trifecta in power, we need to use these next few weeks to build massive public pressure for democracy reform and demand bold, transformative action for a democracy that works for everyone.

Congressional recesses are a key time for our activism — with senators in their home districts, constituents can host rallies, earn press attention, and get creative to show our senators just how crucial these reforms are. And Indivisible activists know how to do just that: we’ve been doing it for years.

How are we supporting this mobilization?

Indivisible organizers and volunteers nationwide are already hard at work planning virtual and in-person events in their communities to keep building the momentum we need to win (there are already 79 events on our map — check it out and add your own on the Deadline for Democracy website!). And here at Indivisible National, we’re getting ready to provide the resources, support, and tools they’ll need to make their plans a success.

Here are some of the ways we’re investing to make this recess the biggest one yet:

  • Running digital ads to recruit volunteers and get the word out about our key priorities
  • Buying materials and sending out swag boxes to volunteers around the country to give them everything they need to run successful events
  • Printing personalized postcards for groups to send to their members of Congress in support of top democracy reform bills
  • Hosting a shiny new website on behalf of dozens of partner organizations
  • Running exclusive targeted peer-to-peer texting programs in priority states to build attendance
  • Plus spending hundreds of hours writing policy resources, creating digital toolkits, and more to get everyone in the movement on board.

2nd Call for Support:  Bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut Home!

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Netse Mot:  Support Lummi Nation and Xw’ullemy (the Salish Sea) 

2nd Call for Support:  Bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut Home!

JUUstice Washington has signed . . .
Board of Trustees of the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship has signed . . .
Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship’s Social and Environmental Justice Committee has signed . . .

Have you?

We are being called upon as groups and organizations to support the effort to bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut home to the Pacific Northwest.  Specifically, we are being asked to sign a request to Governor’s Inslee (WA) and Brown (OR) and B.C. Premier John Horgan to sign a proclamation to support the efforts to bring her home.  This is different than the petition to Miami Seaquarim for individuals that went out earlier.
Please sign by 24 May 2021 as a group or organization.  The desired goal is present it to the Governors in June during Orca Action Month for signing.  Here’s the link to the form to be signed by your group, congregation or organization.  The text of that proclamation is listed below.
I realize that many of us have specific procedures and protocols that we are required to adhere to, especially as faith-based congregations and we may not be able to achieve congregational resolutions by the 24 May deadline.  Please try where you are able to do so.  If you are not able to come forward with a full congregational resolution or organizational support, then by all means, request that your various racial, Indigenous-related and/or environmental justice teams and Indigenous teams to sign on as their respective groups.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Skk’aliCh’el-tenaut, here’s brief synopsis.
In 1970, a number of young Southern Resident Orca relations were violently captured from their native Salish Sea waters and sold to aquariums. Only one of these qwe’lhol’mechen survives to this day. Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, who has also been called “Tokitae” and “Lolita” in captivity, remains the star attraction of Miami Seaquarium, where she is held in the world’s smallest orca tank, subjected to relentless sun and extreme social isolation.
The Southern Resident Orcas of the Salish Sea are culturally and spiritually significant to the Coast Salish peoples whose territories overlap with that of the orcas. In particular, the Lhaq’temish people of Lummi Nation consider these orcas to be family. The Lummi term for orcas is qwe’lhol’mechen, meaning “the people under water,” and ancestral teachings hold that there are kinship bonds between the Lhaq’temish and orca peoples.
In 2017, Lummi Nation was called to work to bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut home. In 2019, Lummi elders Squil-le-he-le (Raynell Morris) and Tah-Mahs (Ellie Kinley) invoked their legal, cultural, and spiritual rights in calling for her release and homecoming, and announcing their intent to sue on the grounds of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) should negotiations not be successful. They are represented by Earth Law Center on the legal front, and are working with the Whale Sanctuary Project on the operational front. There is now a comprehensive plan that details how to safely and responsibly bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut out of captivity and back home to the Salish Sea. The plan is grounded and guided by Lummi culture and oversight, and is a living document that will change according to Sk’aliCh’elh- tenaut’s needs as they change over time. The ongoing health and well-being of Sk’aliCh’elh- tenaut, her Southern Resident Orca family, and the Salish Sea are centered in this plan.
Other background resources are:
Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, Sacred Sea: for a living Salish Sea at sacredsea.org
Here’s a heart-wrenching and warming explanatory video:  https://vimeo.com/266726774
You can also google “Tokitae” and view other websites, articles and videos regarding Lummi Nation’s work to bring her home.

 

Netse Mot: Bringing Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut Home!

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An orca breaches in view of Mount Baker in the Salish Sea in the San Juan Islands (AP, 2015/Eliane Thompson)

Netse Mot 2021-Call to bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut Home

2021 will focus on the return of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (Tokitae/Lolita) to the Pacific Northwest from Miami Seaquarim in Florida.  In the 1970s Southern Resident Orca youth were forcibly and violently taken from their pods and shipped out to aquariums and parks all over the world. Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (Tokitae/Lolita) was taken to Miami Seaquarium where she is the last surviving Orca youth taken.  Lummi Nation has been trying for decades now to have her returned but Miami Seaquarim is refusing to release her.  In 2019, two Lummi women, Squil-le-he-le and Mah Tahs working with Earth Law Center, invoked the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and announced their intent to sue Miami Seaquarium if the Seaquarium.  To date (April 2021), Miami Seaquarim is still refusing to release Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut. Squil-le-he-le and Mah Tahs are calling upon us to respond as well.

  1. For individuals, they are asking that we sign the petition established by Earth Law Center that is collecting signatures to go to Miami Seaquarim and its parent and affiliates—Palace Entertainment and Parques Reunidos Servicios Centrales SA.
  2. For groups and organizations, they are asking that we sign a request to Governor’s Inslee (WA) and Brown (OR) and BC Premier John Horgan to sign a proclamation to support the efforts to bring her home.  Please sign by 24 May 2021.  We’d like to present it to the Governors in June during Orca Action Month.
  3. We are also being asked to reach out to other Indigenous connections we may have and invite them to sign the Indigenous Statement of Solidarity.  The request also includes a video of ceremonies in solidarity.  If you have connections with an Indigenous group, please ask them to contact  Julie at info@sacredsea.org.

More info can be found at sacredsea.org or our other webpages on the Totem Pole Journeys dedicated to her at https://juustwa.org/program-areas/issues/first-american-indian-nations/our-work/totem-pole-journeys/tokitae/ and https://juustwa.org/program-areas/issues/first-american-indian-nations/our-work/totem-pole-journeys/tokitae/tokitae-totem-pole-returns-home/